Friedrich von Bernhardi

Friedrich von Bernhardi (22 November 1849-11 December 1930) was a general of the German Empire and a military historian, best known for his militarist book Germany and the Next War, published in 1910 (four years before World War I).

Biography
Bernhardi was born on 22 November 1849 in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire, but in 1851 his family moved to Silesia. In 1870 he served with the 14th Hussars in the Franco-Prussian War, and he was the first cavalryman to ride through the Arc de Triomphe when the Germans entered Paris, France. From 1891 to 1894 he became the military attache at Bern, and from 1907 to 1909 he led the German 7th Corps at Munster before retiring. Bernhardi left the military life to become a writer, and he became a renowned military historian like Carl von Clausewitz. In his magnum opus, the 1910 Germany and the Next War, Bernhardi stated that it was a biological necessity to fight, and in his works he constantly praised German nationalism. During the "next war" (World War I) in 1914, Bernhardi briefly fought on the Eastern Front before he transferred to the Western Front and fought at the Battle of Armentieres. He died in 1930 at the age of 81.